Saturday, October 30, 2010

This is an old photograph of women harvesting crops selling goods from a boat in a canal connected to the chinampas south of Mexico City, probably in the 1920s. My daughter purchased it from a dealer in old photographs, who has no information about its origin. Does anyone have a clue about who might have taken the photo, when and where? The name "Scott" is penciled in at the lower right.

Please contact me if you know anything about this. I am thinking about using this in the 3rd edition of my book, The Aztecs, but I'd like to know more about the photo before deciding to include it.

I have found an alternate old photo, this one with a chinampero along the chinampas. Maybe I will post it at some point.

And what does this have to do with Calixtlahuaca, you might ask. Well, the lakes around Tenochtitlan, and in the southern part of the Basin of Mexico, were filled with chinampas in Aztec times. The high productivity of this form of agriculture is one reason why Tenochtitlan conquered Calixtlahuaca, rather than the other way around.

12 comments:

Do you know that the most popular map of Texcoco I thing the round one !938 done for Cortes is one map made to look like two different maps, one of Texcoco and the other of the Gulf.

a 1947 version of the 1532 map of Texcoco by Ola Apenes was created by M. Plinius and written in good Italian.

Both these maps are always printed upside down, Maybe it shows where the Chinampas were placed. Don't know.. Aster is a GOOD Norse word meaning East, but Austro is a PERFECT Italian word meaning South. Don't know why no one can identify the word for North, it is a longer word and cannot be misconstrued for any other.

Actually, this may also be the Canal de la Viga. Apparently in the late 19th cent and early 20th, what is today a highway was a canal. I have a photo from one of those magazines from the Centro Historico that shows similar boats, although without people, in La Viga/Santa Anita canals in the 19th century. Also ,Debroise's Mexican Suite mentions the photographer Winfield Scott (not the general), who was active in Mexico in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. His source is an article "Ninos desnudos en el Porfiriato" by Georgina Rodriguez in Luna Cornea 9 (1996). I think that publication is mostly available in Mexico, but... Will send you the La Viga photo offline.--All best,Ellen Hoobler

Someone on Aztlan suggested that these women are not farmers - more likely they are selling food and other things from their boat. If that's the case, then the photo is less relevant to illustrate chinampas, although its still a great photo. Any ideas about this?

Yes, Roberto is correct - these women are selling things from their boat, they are definitely NOT harvesting crops form a chinampa. I apologize for my hasty text about this image - it is a wonderful photo, but NOT a good example to illustrate chinampas.